The following United States patents show various types of sign boards which are adapted to be mounted in a vertical orientation: U.S. Pat. No. 1,559,010, granted Oct. 27, 1925, to George B. Schwieger; U.S. Pat. No. 1,793,563, granted Feb. 24, 1931, to Eugene Schwartz; U.S. Pat. No. 1,866,723, granted Jul. 12, 1932, to Howard C. Powers; U.S. Pat. No. 2,646,241, granted Jul. 21, 1953, to Robert E. McLean; U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,433, granted Apr. 2, 1957, to Robert J. Slavsky and John R. Slavsky; U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,798, granted Sep. 22, 1970, to Donald C. Williams and Richard G. Growei U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,507, granted Mar. 11, 1986, to Paul G. Elliott; U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,799, granted Oct. 14, 1986, to Hugo E. Rebentisch; U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,331, granted Feb. 21, 1989, to Charles H. Boggess and Richard G. Krautsack; U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,867, granted Sep. 19, 1989, to Kenneth H. Clark; U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,707, granted Nov. 21, 1989, to Benjamin L. Garfinkle; U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,464, granted Mar. 20, 1990, to Stanley L. Levine and Lee R. Wiese; U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,256, granted Sep. 18, 1990, to Mary B. Boeding; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,606, granted May 12, 1992, to Randy B. Reynolds.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,331 discloses a display holder that is adapted to be mounted onto the front of a store shelf by a structure which holds the display holder in a vertical orientation and in a position that is generally perpendicular to the front edge of a shelf, but which allows the display holder to pivotally move out of the way of a customer or article that strikes it. The display holder includes a bias means which automatically returns it to its normal position when the force causing it to swing has been removed. This ensures that the advertising message or display continuously remains in a direct view of approaching customers. An object of the present invention is to provide a display holder capable of performing the function of the display holder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,331, but which is much simpler in construction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,707 discloses a display holder similar to the display holder disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,331, except it includes a hinge comprised of a plurality of stria which are formed from a flexible material such as thermoplastic elastomer. An object of the present invention is to provide an improved construction of the display holder and a flexible strip hinge which is selectively usable with the display holder for better serving the objectives of the display holder and hinge disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,707.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mounting structure for the display holder which both structurally reinforces a frame member of the display holder and provides a support for upper and lower trunnions which are used to mount the display holder for pivotal movement about a vertical axis.